Cadbury Creme Egg hammered by £6m sales drop after unpopular recipe change
BRITONS have voted with their feet - and wallets - to protest Cadbury's Creme Eggs recipe changes made after the chocolatier was taken over by an American-based firm.
Cadbury's Creme Egg sales have dropped
The Dairy Milk egg, which contains the Easter treats' fondant, was last year replaced with a cheaper chocolate alternative.
But the money-saving move seems to have backfired after Creme Egg sales sunk by a whopping £6million.
At the time, consumers reacted with anger over the changes to the popular eggs.
It comes after Cadbury was taken over by Mondelez, part of the American firm Kraft.
Overall sales of the firm’s branded Easter eggs dropped by £10 million last year, with Creme Eggs hit the hardest, according to the research by analysts IRI.
But Cadbury's marketing manager Claire Low said that the recipe change was not behind the drop in sales.
She told trade magazine The Grocer: “The fundamentals of Cadbury Creme Egg remain exactly the same."
She added: “We are aware shorter seasons can be challenging."
Cadbury's is no longer a British company after Kraft took over the firm in 2010
Kraft's takeover of Cadbury sparked protests
Now Cadbury's Creme Eggs are made using cheaper chocolate
However, the sales struggle could continue for Cadbury after it last month emerged Modelez had not paid any UK corporation tax in 2014.
The firm avoided tax, despite Cadbury making profits of £96.5million, by offsetting it against interest on debt listed in the Channel Islands.
Campaigners were outraged by news and urged consumers to boycott Cadbury products until the firm stopped using loopholes to shirk tax.
At the time, Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Commons all-party group on responsible tax, said: “Multinationals like this are deliberately exporting their profits with artificial company structures to avoid tax.
"The founders of Cadbury who set it up as an ethical company will be turning in their graves."